


One for the money

by LithiumReaper



Category: Hit the Floor (TV)
Genre: Angst, BAMF!Jude, M/M, Supportive Jude, T rating for language, Zero Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-02
Updated: 2017-07-02
Packaged: 2018-11-22 08:32:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11376471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LithiumReaper/pseuds/LithiumReaper
Summary: Leo and Carla (or what's left of them) track Zero down, looking to mooch off of his fame. Jude comes to the rescue.





	One for the money

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in a few hours, so it might not be as well written as I would like it to be.  
> This is in response to a prompt for the second Team Zude comment fic fest running on DW.
> 
> This is unbeta'd and any and all errors are mine. Please let me know if you spot any, glaringly or otherwise.
> 
> Kudos and concrit welcome.  
> Enjoy

Zero is quite accustomed to his life. He likes his team, he likes playing ball. He likes winning, but who doesn’t? He likes the coffee place they stop at some mornings, and coffee kisses before each heading in their own direction. Zero likes Jude, living with him, loving him, sleeping with him, even likes his anal-retentiveness and his ability to worry about literally _anything_.

There are few things, though, that Zero does not like. He doesn’t like how long it took him to become captain of the Devils, or Lucas, or Jelena at times. But what he doesn’t like, despises actually, is the cover of some tabloid he spots at the store. He buys it, along with the cereal, milk, and toilet paper on the list Jude gave him. 

He doesn’t look at it though, studiously refuses to even glance in its direction all the way back to Jude’s apartment. His hands are shaking by the time he unlocks the door. Jude isn’t home yet. It’s barely gone four pm, and Jude’s probably still in his meeting with one of the vendors. Zero dials his number anyway.

“Gideon, hey.” Jude’s silky smooth voice filters through the speaker and the vice around Zero’s throat loosens slightly. “Great timing,” Jude chuckles “I literally just stepped out of my meeting.”

Zero huffs a soft laugh, and closes his eye. He leans his head against the fridge, where he at least managed to put the milk away. “Jude.” He says softly.

“What’s wrong?” Jude’s tone changes immediately. He turns from puppy to protective guard dog in seconds, and Zero feels tears prickle at his eyes with how much he loves Jude. “I’m serious Gideon, what’s wrong? What happened?” 

Jude asks again, and Zero only manages a soft, “Nothing. I just missed you.” He knows Jude isn’t falling for it at all.

“Where are you?” Jude demands.

“I’m fine Jude. I just-“ Zero starts, but is cut off.

“Are you at home? I’m coming home.” There’s a chime and Zero pulls his phone away from his ear to see that Jude’s hung up on him. He has no doubt that Jude is already out of the office and on his way home. Zero sighs, dropping his phone on the kitchen counter and packing away the remaining groceries. He finds the magazine once he’s done packing away Doritos, and cereal, and toilet paper, and stares at it for a long minute. His face is on the cover. He recognizes the photo they tabloid used. It’s from a premier he and Jude were invited to a few weeks ago, but Jude’s been cut from the photo. The headline is printed in large yellow letters on the glossy paper. It makes Zero want to break something. **EXCLUSIVE: ZERO’S FOSTER PARENTS SPEAK**.

There’s a part of him that knew Leo and Carla would eventually worm their way into their foster kids’ lives. Though he hoped it would never be him, he knew his fame and money made him the obvious target. He doesn’t open the magazine, leaves it on the kitchen counter and turns to the fridge for a beer instead. He pops the cap, just as tires turn into the asphalt on the driveway. A door slams, and footsteps hurry up the path to the front door. Jude slams the door behind him, walking purposefully toward zero, but stops short. Zero’s leaning against the fridge again, head tipped back as he revels in the coldness against his back. He knows Jude’s spotted the magazine with Zero’s face splashed on the cover.

He reaches for it, turning his head slightly so he can read the headline. Zero knows the exact moment when Jude’s shoulders stiffen, he clenches his jaw, and his spine goes rigid. “What the hell?” 

Zero hears the pages flicking open, until Jude gets to the interview. There’s a momentary pause before Jude starts talking to himself. “ _We tried to provide a loving home to all of our foster children._ Yeah, fucking lying through your teeth.” Jude has the magazine folded over by now and is pacing up and down the kitchen. Zero’s sure that Jude will eventually wear the tiles out and won’t get his security deposit back. He takes a long pull of his beer, relishing in the cold liquid sliding down his throat. His face is burning, and he’s sure that if he’s to check, his cheeks would be stained red.

“ _Zero was always a rebellious boy, and acted out often. We never had to discipline him though._ No, you just beat the shit out of him whenever you had the chance, you piece of shit.” There’s a flutter of paper, and a thunk of an item making contact with the bottom of the garbage bag. Zero tips his head back down, and Jude’s there, hands on his neck. His face is thunderous, but his eyes are sad, so fucking sad that Zero closes his own eyes and sighs.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. What do you need?” He runs his fingers up the sides of Zero’s neck, stopping at his jaw, before trailing back down to his shoulders and collarbone. He shakes his head. He doesn’t know what he needs. He just doesn’t want to deal with this bullshit now. Never would be preferable, but Zero doesn’t think that would be possible.

“Okay.” Jude says softly. “Okay.” He repeats. He takes the beer from Zero’s hand and leads him through the short hallway to their bedroom. He pulls Zero’s t-shirt off, unbuckles his jeans, undressing him down to his boxers, before pulling a pair of Jude’s sweats up Zero’s legs. Jude shuffles him to his side of the bed, burying him under the covers. Zero’s vaguely aware of Jude changing out of his suit and climbing into bed next to him.

For the next few hours they remain absolutely silent. Jude doesn’t ask questions, or ask him how he’s _feeling_. Jude holds his hand under the covers, his head bent low and pressed against Zero’s bare shoulder. He drifts off eventually. He doesn’t dream, and if he does, he’s thankful that he doesn’t remember them.

He sleeps fitfully for a while, shifting between sleep and wakefulness. The times he’s awake, he hears Jude on the phone. He thinks Jude’s talking to Jelena, but he’s not sure. He hears snippets of conversation, but he doesn’t pay any attention to it. He hears the words _find them_ and _fucking cease and desist to those assholes and the fucking magazine_.

:::

It’s early, the kind of early where Zero’s not sure if it’s still evening or morning. It’s dark outside, and there’s no light in the apartment. Everything is quiet. Zero knows Jude is awake. He can feel it in the rhythm of his breathing, with his arm pressed against Jude’s chest.

“Leo broke my hand once.” He says quietly. He’s not sure he wants Jude to reply, and Jude doesn’t say anything anyway. He lets Zero talk into the dark abyss of the dead of night without expecting anything other than what he can give right now. “He found out that I was sneaking out sometimes to play basketball with some of the older kids. He slammed my hand into one of those doors I busted with that sledgehammer.” He lets out a dry chuckle. Jude’s fingers curl around his, and he squeezes his fingers around Jude’s.

“They never gave two shits about any of us. They just used us for the money. Half the time we had to feed ourselves.” He sighs and runs his hand over his face. “I always knew they’d crawl their way through the woodwork like maggots. I guess using Zero as a pseudonym isn’t exactly subtle.”

Jude squeezes his hand, pressing a kiss to Zero’s shoulder. He rests the side of his face against Zero’s shoulder, and Zero focuses on the feeling of Jude’s breath ghosting over his arm.

“I don’t know what to do.” He says quietly. And it hurts. It really fucking hurts to feel as lost as he did back then, when he ran away from Leo and Carla.

He doesn’t say anything else, and neither does Jude. He stays awake, staring at the shadows playing across the ceiling until the light of a new day crawls its way across their still open blinds.

:::

There’s a ton of reporters outside the arena when they arrive. Zero steels himself for the onslaught when they climb out of the car and make their way up the steps to the doors. There’s a security team waiting for him and Jude, but it doesn’t stop the press of bodies against his as questions are hurled at him. He ducks his head down, and holds on tighter to Jude’s hand.

:::

Terrence approaches him in the locker room. He’s wiping sweat from his face before thumping around in his locker. He has his shower bag ready, blue flip flops on his feet, when he stops in front of Zero.

“I’m sorry this shit happened to you, man. Take it from a guy who knows what it feels like to not have contact with your family, and then have them try to make a quick buck off you, it sucks right now, but it’ll pass.”

“They’re not my family.” Zero grunts. He doesn’t even have the energy to feel agitated at Terrence’s unsolicited advice.

“You hate them, you’ve made that clear. But they raised you, even though they’re a bunch of assholes. It’s cause of them that you’re the guy you are today. For better or worse.” Terrence says, and sits down next to Zero. “Jelena used to tell me that we can choose our family, but we cannot choose the scars they leave on us.” There’s a tinge of sadness in his voice. Jelena did a number on Terrence that Zero’s pretty sure scarred him for life.

“What are you talking about, man?” Zero asks, lacing the question with as much annoyance as he can. It’s difficult though. He hasn’t felt this numb in years.

Terrence throws an annoyed glance at him. “Take what they gave you and destroy them, is what I’m saying.” He gets up and starts walking toward the showers.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Zero calls after Terrence, who flips him off over his shoulder. Zero cracks a smile, and feels a little more human than he did the day before.

He eventually takes his own shower, and heads upstairs to Jude’s office. He knocks on the door and peaks his head past the door, checking if Jude’s in a meeting. It’s only Jude and Jelena, who both turn toward him as he opens the door wider to slide into the room.

“Hey.” Jude breathes softly, and he looks up at Zero from behind his desk, face open in earnestness that Zero flashes him a small smile in return. He knows Jude’s worried about him, and he fucking hates it. He hates worrying Jude, because that’s not what their relationship should even be about. He said as much to Jude once, and got a slap to the back of the head, followed by a _don’t be stupid, stupid_. 

“Good, you’re here.” Jelena says. She crosses her legs, and Zero glances down at the very high red heels she’s wearing and briefly wonders how she doesn’t fall on her face while walking with those things. “Jude and I have been talking, and we have enough to bury those assholes to kingdom come.” She looks down at her nails and says, “Now please, handle this please, because this is boring already.” She leaves the room immediately after, slamming the door behind her. That woman sure as hell knows how to make her presence known.

They stare at each other for a few minutes, until Jude breaks the silence. “I have the name of the motel they’re staying at.” Zero knows he means to say it nonchalantly. “It’s up to you what we do.” He stands from behind his desk, and walks purposefully toward Zero. Jude kisses him chastely. “We do what is best for you, and you only.”

Zero nods slightly, before taking Jude’s hand in his. “Thank you.”

:::

He can’t sleep. Zero’s pretty sure he’s been staring at the ceiling for four hours straight. Jude is fast asleep next to him, his faint little snores breaking the dead quiet of night every so often.

He thinks about Jude’s words from the previous afternoon. He needs to do what is best for him. Jude had stretched the pronoun to make sure that Zero understood that he meant what is best for Gideon, not Zero, not Jelena, not the Devils, and not Jude.

He thinks about what he’d say to them. He’s pretty sure he’d punch Leo’s teeth in. he thinks about Terrence’s words, and although he may have a point, Zero knows that Jude is the only family he needs.

He doesn’t ask for the address, doesn’t need it, because he has nothing to say to either Leo or Carla. He’s done with that, and he’s done with them. He turns on his side, and slings an arm around Jude’s waist. He falls asleep with a smile on his face.

:::

Gideon doesn’t know that Jude went to see Leo and Carla. He doesn’t know that Jude went into a motel room alone, armed with a polaroid and a newspaper clipping in his suit pocket. Gideon has no idea that Jude told Leo and Carla, who were both sleep rumpled from being woken up at 2am, that if they ever set foot in LA again, he would destroy them. 

Gideon has no idea that Jude walked calmly up to the bed they were sleeping in, and sneered at them that they might not know who he is, or how he would make their lives a living hell if they even uttered the name Zero ever again, but that they can take it as a promise that he will destroy them. He doesn’t know how Jude dangled a polaroid of their mangled dog’s carcass (a fake that Lionel helped him stage) and repeated their address off the top of his head.

Gideon has no clue that Jude bared his teeth at them, dropping the newspaper clipping of a body found at Oscar’s ground breaking ceremony nearly a year ago, with the threat _“If I can do that to my own father, just imagine what I’ll do to you.”_ He gave them an hour to get out of LA, and they did.

Gideon doesn’t know any of that, and it is a conversation for another day.

:::


End file.
